From: "Tony Ellis" <tony.ellis@futurenet.co.uk>
Subject: Re: (urth) More "Kevin Malone"
Date: Thu, 04 Mar 1999 18:07:42 +0000

Roy wrote:

>     The above does not address when/how KM came to be possessed by the elder
> Malone.
>
Absolutely. We don't -know- how or when this happened. The story doesn't
tell us. Like the question "how many children had Lady Macbeth?", it's
not important.

>    KM can not have the elder Malone's memories of growing up on the estate
> because the estate didn't exist when the elder Malone was a boy!
>
Once again: since the story doesn't tell us one way or the other whether
the elder Malone grew up on the estate, it can't matter. We're not
supposed to know precisely what memories KM has or believes he has. All
we need to know is that he thinks he's the son of Betty and the elder
Malone, and that there never was a son.


> My theory is looking better all the time! <g>

Well, as SBear points out, your theory requires the writing-in of extra
Malones and events that just aren't in the original story. For me that's
enough to reject it out of hand. And perhaps more importantly, this is a
-ghost- story - originally commissioned by Ramsey Campbell for his
anthology New Terrors.... No offense, but your explanation turns a fine,
insidiously creepy story into something pretty flat.<g>


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